Return to Ryuku
by thatACDCchick
Summary: Post-series: After finally able to lead peaceful lives, Fuu and Jin are once more thrown into a journey to nowhere thanks to their ex-pirate friend, Mugen. Now, they must travel to Mugen's birthplace with a strange woman who only uses her feet. Rated M for later chapter s .
1. Chapter 1

**Part 1**

_Pain wells in her jaw as he strikes her again and she tastes blood in her mouth. The crazed man before her chuckles with sadistic delight at the sight of the crimson staining her lips. Suddenly, the all too familiar clip-clopping of steel-lined geta meets her ears and there he was. Dripping wet with angry red cuts marring his face and blood slowing oozing from the palm of his left hand. She could barely see him through the glare of the sun on the ocean behind him, but she could tell he was angry. No, he was downright pissed off. He had always been short tempered, but there were very few times when she saw pure, blinding rage radiate from him. _

_"You're going to give her back." It wasn't a question or a statement. It was an order. _

Fuu jerked awake with sweat brimming on her brow. That dream. Why was she still having that dream? She thought that being back together with her two bodyguards would get rid of it once and for all, but no. It still plagued her like a persistent cough. She took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves before looking across the dying embers of their campfire at his sleeping form. Mugen had rolled onto his back with his mouth wide open and all four limbs splayed out in different directions as he snored louder than a bear.

She briefly wondered if he had any nightmares about that horrible day. The day they finally found her father, the samurai who smells of sunflowers, and all three nearly died at the hands of two separate parties both out for revenge. For some reason, she couldn't imagine Mugen tossing and turning in his sleep as internal demons ate away at his dreams. With one last deep breath, she stood from her bed roll and walked over to the small stream nearby to drink. When she had returned, she found that she wasn't the only one awake.

"What's wrong?" asked the calm voice belonging to her ronin bodyguard, Jin.

"N-nothing. Just a bad dream," she replied after a moment's hesitation.

"About that day we found the samurai who smells of sunflowers?" he guessed.

"How did…?"

"You talk in your sleep," he replied to the unfinished question.

Fuu felt her face burn red in the darkness. She had no idea that she talked in her sleep. What did she say? She hoped she never said anything she would regret.

"You mainly talk about your mother," Jin said as if reading her thoughts. "You also worry about us a lot. Mugen more than me, though."

_Shit. _The blush in her cheeks grew hotter.

"Don't tell him," she begged softly.

"I won't," he said after a pause.

"Oi, oi! Wake up or we're gonna leave your skinny ass behind!" a rough, Yanki voice called, waking Fuu from the dreamless sleep she had fallen into.

Fuu groaned softly and rolled over to slip her flat, wooden zōri over her feet.

"Yeah right," she mumbled grumpily. "Every time you leave me behind, you end up having to save me."

"Stop drawing so much attention to yourself and we wouldn't have to save you so much!" Mugen snapped.

Fuu fell silent having no retort to that last statement. Instead she busied herself with rolling up her sleeping mat and gathering what she could from around the campsite.

"'Bout damn time," Mugen grumbled as she finally caught up with him and Jin walking down the dirt path to the road.

Fuu internally chastised herself for worrying about this jerkwad all the time. Why should she? It wasn't like _he _ever needed rescuing. Patching up after a particularly nasty fight, sure, but never did he need someone to come to his rescue.

"How much longer until we reach town?" she asked through the growing pain in her temple.

"Not long," Jin answered quietly. "We should be there by noon."

"Good, cause I'm starving," Mugen chimed in with his arms folded behind his head.

"Well, first order of business is earning some money _for_ that food," Fuu pointed out. "How can you constantly forget we're always broke?"

"Easy. I just plain don't give a fuck," he chuckled.

Fuu rubbed the throbbing spot on her temple and held her tongue before she caused another argument.

They were traveling south after having run into each other while Fuu was working in a hotel and Jin had become the personal bodyguard of the local daimyo. It was a pretty comfortable four months living in one place stead of on the road with a steady income and source of food to fill them. Until, that is, Mugen rolled into town and wreaked havoc like none other. It would have only been him fleeing town had Fuu and Jin seen the carnage and recognized the perpetrator. Personal bodyguard or no, Jin was immediately outcast when it came to light he had a history with the man who burned down no less than six buildings and slayed most of the samurai employed by the daimyo at the time. As for Fuu, she was doomed the moment she spoke Mugen's name as they carried him away in shackles.

No one knew what they were going to do once they found a town to finally settle in, but Jin and Fuu had resolved to do whatever they could to restrain Mugen. Hell, maybe they'd tie him up in a closet and feed him through a doggy door twice a day. That'd surely keep him from destroying any public property for a little while. Nevertheless, once more they were traveling together towards no destination in particular, simply trying to stay out of jail. Well… two of them were.

**Part 2**

"Welcome," said a quiet voice from the back of the shop. The speaker was a woman donned in a deep blue kimono that stopped mid-thigh and had loose sleeves that draped over her hands. Her legs were wrapped in bindings and her feet were bare. Her dark hair was tied into a single braid down her back and she didn't look up as the trio entered her shop.

Fuu, Mugen and Jin stared at the woman in her strange clothing before Fuu pulled them all together into a huddle.

"The ad on the front of the shop says that she's offering lodging and work. _Don't _fuck this up, Mugen," she said quietly.

"Me?!" he asked offended at the accusation.

Jin merely nodded sagely in agreement with Fuu.

"Just… browse around the shop for a little bit, I'll go talk to her about the ad-." Fuu was interrupted by the shopkeeper shouting.

"Put it back, thief!" she bellowed angrily.

The only other patron in the shop, a young-looking man with an oily face, jumped from his spot beside a table full of assorted books.

"W-what? M-m-me?" he asked shakily.

The woman was across the shop in an instant, glaring at the man with brown eyes that blazed with rage.

"Put. It. Back." She ordered once more.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about, you crazy bitch!" the man yelled. "They're the suspicious ones!" He pointed a shaking finger at Mugen, Fuu and Jin to which Mugen growled and lifted a hand to his sword.

"Don't!" Fuu warned grabbing his bony wrist.

"You have five seconds to take the book out of your sleeve and place it back on the table," the woman said in a dangerous voice. "One…." The man jumped slightly and gulped. "Two…." He scooted back a bit towards the exit. "Three…." The woman took a step forward. "Four…." The man ran from the store crying for his mother. "Five!"

Before the young man had made it a foot away from the threshold, the woman had kicked him with a heavy foot in the back so that he rammed headfirst into the neighboring building. When the man had regained his footing, the shopkeeper did a flip into the air and wrapped her ankles around his neck to slam him down into the dirt and then stomp on his wrist after he finally conceded to remove the stolen book from his sleeve. He screamed in pain as the woman ground the broken bone into the dirt so that the bones creaked and splintered audibly.

After he had run off down the street cursing with tears streaming down his face, the woman used her foot to flip the book into a cloth satchel on her hip and walked back into the store. Once back inside, she looked the trio up and down before apologizing for the spectacle and encouraged them to continue their shopping. All three wore varying degrees of shocked expressions as they watched her place the book back onto the table using only her foot yet again.

Fuu was amazed at the speed she displayed when crossing the shop to the thief. Jin wondered why she didn't use her arms or hands and silently praised the skill which she employed to kick the man clear across the street into the building across. Mugen, however, was more than impressed by the whole show. Nothing turned him on more than a woman able to handle herself in battle. Unless, of course, she was succeeding in trying to kill him.

"Um… excuse us," Fuu spoke up after a minute of silence. "We were interested in the ad on the front of your shop?"

The woman looked up suddenly and Fuu jumped slightly but settled when she saw the woman's expression of rage was now replaced by a calm one. Her eyes, previously blazing, now glittered excitedly in the dim light of the shop.

"Really, now?" she asked. "All three of you?" The trio nodded numbly. "For how long?"

"We're not sure… until we have enough money to move on," Fuu replied uncertainly. _Or until Mugen gets us all wanted by the authorities, again, _she added silently.

"Alright. My name's Ashi," she replied moving behind the counter. She bent down and began rummaging around.

"What are your rates?" Jin asked.

"For you three?" Ashi straightened to examine them once more. "One ryō a week plus two meals a day."

Dollar signs lit up their eyes and they found themselves signing the documents Ashi produced outlining the details of their jobs in the shop. When the three of them had signed their names (or in Mugen's case, scribbled a rough outline for the symbol of 'infinity') Ashi tucked the documents away and led them through the back door to show them their temporary home. Across a small, fenced in courtyard stood a pair of stout shacks connected by a narrow walkway leading to a bathhouse.

"The one on the left is mine, the one on the right now belongs to you for the time being." They followed her over to the shack and watched her slide the door open with a foot. "There's a cooking pot there, firewood can be found along the back wall of the shop. Cut your own logs for baths and cooking." She closed the door once more and pointed a foot towards the fence gate. "I close the shop at midnight and leave the back gate unlocked until three a.m. After that, if you're left out, you're shit out of luck for the night. I don't open back up until nine a.m."

Ashi lead them back into the shop and closed the door. "Now, then… as for meals… I can provide you each with about half a pound of rice a day along with assorted meats and vegetables. It all depends on what I have in stock or what I buy at the market that week. But for now, this first meal's on me. Care to join me?" She finished the question with a small smile as she watched them staring at her.

"Food?" Mugen asked breaking the silence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 3**

"Oh? So you _can _use your hands?" Fuu asked when she saw Ashi pick up a pair of chopsticks and dig into a bowl of soba noodles.

When the hand holding said chopsticks froze halfway to Ashi's mouth in a mixture of shock and embarrassment, Fuu took a moment to examine her hands. They looked to be wrapped tightly in linen wrappings and for a moment she wondered if Ashi had injured her hands and that was what led her to use those powerful legs to deal with the thief in her store earlier. In answer, Ashi lowered her chopsticks and pulled the sleeves of her kimono up to reveal that the linen wrappings extended from her hands, past her wrists and all the way up to her elbow.

"I only use my hands when absolutely necessary. Say if I'm in a fight and I'm far outnumbered, that's when I finally pull out my weapon to fight back. Also with anything dealing with food. There's no way I could use my feet for food related actions. It's way too unsanitary," she explained in a subdued voice. "'The hands are the most important part of a person and as such should only be used for actions that require them.' That's what my uncle taught me. Plus, there's a story or two that I'm not ready to tell, yet, as to why I can't stand people touching my hands or arms." Her delicate-looking hands clenched into tight fists that made the muscles strain against the wrappings. "Maybe someday, but for now…." She picked the chopsticks back up with surprising speed and began eating enthusiastically.

"Un…sanitary…," Mugen muttered still miles behind in the conversation.

Ashi laughed softly, a playful glint shone in her eyes. "You're from Ryuku, aren't you?" she asked.

Mugen looked up suddenly with a guarded nonchalant stare. "What of it?"

"How did you know?" Fuu asked.

"Hey!" Mugen snapped not wanting Fuu to reveal too many secrets to this stranger.

Once again Ashi laughed and set her now empty bowl onto the table. "Because… I'm also from Ryuku."

Back at their rented shack behind Ashi's shop, Mugen reclined on the floor staring at the roof while Jin leaned against one of the walls and Fuu was taking her sweet time in the bathhouse. Ashi wouldn't say any more about being from Ryuku stating that it was too dangerous of a subject to discuss in the restaurant. Instead, they had finished their meals in silence and returned to the shop where Ashi told them they could rest and relax for the rest of the day before starting work in the morning. Mugen was replaying the events of the day in his mind for the umpteenth time when Fuu slid open the door with a satisfied sigh and stepped inside.

She was wrapped in a simple white kimono she usually wore to sleep in when they had a proper place to sleep in and her hair was still wet from the bath. For some reason, Mugen couldn't help but watch as she stretched and walked across the floor to the little mirror hanging on the wall and picked up the comb that Ashi had let her borrow. She had just begun combing out the tangles in her hair when she felt Mugen's curious eyes on her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Mugen finally broke his gaze and turned back to picking out shapes in the ceiling. "Nothing. Just thinking about that Ashi woman."

"Yeah… she's pretty strange. And she claims that she's from Ryuku… do you think we can trust her?"

"She hasn't given us any reason to believe she's a barbarian like Mugen," Jin said making Mugen mentally jump out of his skin. What is with that guy being able to stay so quiet all the time? And that barbarian comment… he'd definitely have to pay for that one later. "She's obviously keeping more than a few secrets from us. The only question is what those questions entail."

Mugen scowled and tried to understand what that accursed ronin was talking about. Meanwhile, Fuu looked outside the little window above Jin's head with a million questions about their mysterious employer racing through her mind.

**Part 4**

The next morning, Fuu awoke to the sound of firewood being chopped and heavy boxes being carried. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she pulled on her normal pink kimono and pulled her hair up ready to start the day.

"Good morning, princess," Mugen grumbled when she finally emerged from the shack. "Here, carry this into the shop." He thrust a heavy box of clay pots into her arms and walked alongside her with his arms over his head.

"You fucking jerk, Mugen," she complained as she strained under the weight of the box.

"Hey, I've carried about a dozen boxes into the shop since I woke up. Ashi insisted on letting you sleep in for a little bit longer, but now that you're awake, it's your turn to pull your weight!" he snapped.

"You should really be nicer considering your relationship," Ashi said softly from her perch on top of the counter.

Fuu paused for a moment to watch her working two pieces of twine between her fingers and after a moment she realized that Ashi was making a necklace of sorts. She threaded a dark colored bead onto the necklace and ended it in a secure not before holding it up to examine her work and when she held it up to Fuu's throat to judge how it looked, she nodded and placed it gently on a little hook holding more necklaces. Only then did Fuu remember that she was holding a heavy box full of fragile pots and she began to sag under the weight.

"Bah, you're useless," Mugen complained and took the box back into his arms to walk it over to the front window display.

She stood stock still for a moment to absorb the tingling sensation that ran up her arms when Mugen's rough hands glided over them to take the box.

"How about you go ahead and straighten up some of the displays?" Ashi suggested gently.

"S-sure," Fuu replied.

The whole day, Fuu couldn't help but notice the discreet gazes coming from Ashi they worked. It was as if she were reading their very minds or souls like an open book with a particularly interesting plot. It put Fuu on edge when she would see Ashi's gaze fall on Mugen and then flit over to Fuu.

Trouble didn't roll around until mid-afternoon, however. By that time, the flow of customers had slowed down considerably and they had resigned to lounging around the shop waiting for the occasional browser to wander through the displays and then straighten back up once the person left. A man wearing a blood red kimono and holding a wicked-looking katana at his hip strode in with an air of false self-importance. He looked around at the quartet of shop owners before asking who the owner was in a deep, falsetto voice.

"What's it to you?" Ashi asked still sitting cross legged on the counter in the back.

The man smiled maliciously. "I have a message from Shuya Tamoto. You do know who that is, right?" Ashi stared down at the man with a blank expression so the he continued talking. "Tamoto-san wants you to understand how badly you fucked up when you broke his arm yesterday." The man slid the katana from the sheath by a fraction of an inch.

Ashi hopped down from the counter with a bored sigh. "It's highly unnecessary for you to come in here and start busting up my shop. So why don't we skip the pleasantries and go outside so I can kick that little sand sucker's ass for good."

The man froze with a bead of sweat brimming on his upper lip before regaining his composure and chuckling as if she had walked right into his trap. "If you insist."

"Wait…," Fuu tried to say.

"Don't worry. There's no way I can't handle things," Ashi told them with a wink.

Fuu, Mugen and Jin crowded the front window to watch the spectacle. Outside the shop they saw at least six other men surrounding the front entrance to the shop all with weapons drawn and scowls scrunching up their faces. One of these men was the young man from yesterday, his arm in a splint with a thick piece of wood holding the arm Ashi had broken together.

"So many people for one woman," Jin observed.

"Hey bitch! I hope you remember me, but even if you don't you sure as hell will when we're done with you," the young man apparently called Shuya called.

"How about we just get this over with so that I can get back to work?" Ashi asked with a smirk. Fuu had seen Mugen wear that same smirk a thousand times while people were trying to intimidate him and failed miserably. "Just so you know, guys, you're all about to die over little Shuya here trying to steal a_ gardening_ book."

The man named Shuya grunted and gripped a curved dagger in the hand of his good arm.

"Enough of this!" he shouted and three of the men rushed forward with swords held high.

They barely had enough time to register the fact that Ashi had jumped high into the air until she landed heavily on top of the heads of two of the men and then brought the heel of her foot up into the chin of the third man.

"Three," Ashi called out when the men were knocked out cold on the ground.

"You little bitch!" a fourth man screamed as he leapt forward with about two hundred pounds of muscle and knocked a giant fist into her jaw.

The force of the punch sent Ashi flying into the front wall over her shop and for a moment she looked to be down for the count. That is until she sprang to her feet amongst a shower of crimson blood spraying from the neck of the man who had just hit her.

"That fucking hurt," she growled and glared around at the remaining men.

She raised her arms to reveal a pair of curved Chinese-style swords called dao now dripping with the blood of the man she had just killed. Without waiting for the others to attack, she rushed forward and with two spinning arcs from her blades she managed to cut down two more of the thugs before turning on their leader.

"D-d-d-don't you know who I am? My father runs this town! If you kill me, you'll have the whole yakuza after you! L-l-let me go and I'll make all your troubles go away!" he begged.

Ashi looked at the man levelly with distaste filling her dark eyes. Time seemed to hold its breath as they all waited for her answer.

"No." And she cut the thieving yakuza's son down with a twin swipe from her blades. When the mist of blood had cleared, Ashi brought the blades together and locked them so that they formed a single dao sword and placed it in the sheath hidden under her kimono on her back. "You three…," she said suddenly referring to Jin, Mugen and Fuu. "First order of business before you guys can leave for the day is to clean this mess up. It's bad for business."

Ashi walked through the threshold of the shop and through to the back leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind. Fuu saw her cleaning her clothes in a wash bin outside her shack wearing a thin, red kimono made of cotton. As she scrubbed with her sleeves pulled up to reveal slender arms that Fuu now knew could slice through a man with ease, she looked a little like an angel of death stuck on Earth doing menial chores.

"Who the hell is she?" Fuu softly wondered as she filled the bucket with water and carried it back into the shop.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 5**

_"No… let me go… please, let me go…," she begs. _

_Her arms are numb now from the ropes and she could feel the iron bars digging into the already existing bruises._

_"You know what you have to do, darling," the man mumbles with lust coloring his voice as he lifts her skirt from her pale legs. "Marry me and I can make all your troubles go away. You can have anything you want if just become my wife. Without me you're nothing. You're as good as dead."_

_Hot tears dripped down her face as he touched her and spoke to her. She was starving and cold and tired and sore. They barely fed her in this hell hole. Illegal immigrant murderers don't deserve food they told her. She barely had enough strength to cry out as he entered her and raped her again…._

The acrid smell of smoke jerked her from the nightmare and into the very real and very painful world. Ashi leapt from the futon and rushed from her hut to see red flames licking the walls and roof of her shop and black smoke choking the night sky. Somewhere down the street the villagers were calling for more water to quench the fire.

"You killed him…. We were going to get married and you killed him," a small voice rambled.

Ashi turned to see a girl no older than Fuu standing before her holding a tantō who's blade was shining golden in the light from the fire.

The girl's rough breathing turned into a maniacal laugh and she rushed forward to stab Ashi. "DIE!"

The blade didn't even come close to Ashi before two other blades blocked her path and stopped her in her tracks.

"Hey, bitch, what the hell is going on here?" Mugen demanded angrily.

"She killed him. Shuya. She killed Shuya. She needs to die. SHE NEEDS TO DI-!"

She was cut off by Ashi's foot coming up from in between Mugen and Jin's swords and kicking the girl through the crumbling back wall and into the shop. They heard her blood curdling screams as she rolled around in the flames.

"Someone's inside! We have to help her!" one of the villagers shouted from in front of the shop.

"What the hell, woman?" Mugen barked.

"If you guys want to live, gather your things and follow me out of the village," Ashi ordered.

Half an hour later, they were all standing amongst a clump of trees watching the dying embers of the fire light up the night sky. They were still putting out the fire in the village but for the most part, it had died down and in the panic, they were able to slip out of the village without anyone noticing them.

"Ashi… I'm so sorry for that...," Fuu said softly.

"Who was she?" Jin asked.

"The girlfriend of that yakuza thief I killed. Apparently she couldn't handle that her hopes and dreams had been shattered," Ashi replied and chuckled softly. "Well, then, I guess I should give you three your payments, huh?"

"Payments? But… we barely did any work for you!" Fuu protested.

Mugen wrapped one of his large, calloused hands over her mouth "Shut it and let the woman pay us!"

Ashi bent over the cart she had loaded up and rummaged around through the different sacks. "Let's see… that's one and a half pounds of rice… here's some fish and beef and some veggies aaaaand, three ryō."

Even Jin was wearing a dazed look as they watched her count everything out into a little satchel for them.

"But… where will you go?" Fuu questioned when Ashi had handed her the satchel.

The former shopkeeper paused her further searching through the cart and thought for a moment. "South… back home to Ryuku. There's someone I need to find there."

"Who the hell would you want to find _there_?" Mugen asked suddenly alert.

Ashi opened and closed her mouth before letting her face fall. When she looked back up at them, there was a guarded look in her eyes. "It's a long story. But it's about time I went and looked for him."

Fuu was suddenly hit with a sense of déjà vu. Wanting to look for someone and finally getting the courage to after your life has been upheaved. It was how she met Jin and Mugen and began her journey to find the samurai who smells of sunflowers.

"Give us a moment," Fuu said and pulled her two bodyguards into huddle.

"What's the deal?!" Mugen asked angrily.

"We should help her on her journey to Ryuku," Fuu stated.

"I'm pretty damn sure she can handle herself," Mugen pointed out. "Just look at how she killed those yakuza bozos yesterday. And the way she kicked that woman through the wall earlier…?"

"But…," Fuu protested.

"As much as I hate to agree with Mugen, it does seem that she can more than handle herself should she find herself in trouble," Jin interjected much to the satisfaction and shock of Mugen. "However… seeing as we're also heading southwards but without any real destination, it couldn't hurt to bring her with us. Plus… she has money."

"Jin, you're a real jerk sometimes," Fuu mumbled. "Hey, Ashi! How would you like to come with us? Seeing as we're going south as well and everything…."

Ashi's expression was unreadable for a few moments but finally she broke into a smile and nodded her head. "I'd appreciate it."

**Part 6**

"So… are you gonna tell us who we're looking for or is this gonna be like when Fuu dragged us all across Japan?" Mugen grumbled as he plopped down onto a sleeping mat beside the little campfire they had built.

"I am quite curious to know where you learned to fight like that," Jin admitted.

"Hmmm," Ashi mumbled as she settled down onto her mat and leaned against a tree stump. "I guess I can trust you guys with some of the details… at least for now. But where to start…?"

"The beginning always works," Fuu suggested and wrapped her thin arms around her knees.

"That would be back home in Ryuku. Like 99% of the people there, I didn't know my real father, so my mother raised me on her own for the most part. Then when a trading vessel docked on the island, she convinced the captain to smuggle the two of us off of the island. That captain became my adopted father when we reached America."

"America? Like, the colonies that England rules over?" Mugen asked scratching his head.

"That was before. The colonies rebelled and got themselves liberated. Now they're a whole country, the United States of America. We lived in a coastal town in Massachusetts. Most of the time my father was away at sea and my mother worked hard to earn money since he didn't really make much. A lot of the time I was under the care of my uncle. He was a scholar and had traveled the world in his teenage years. He taught me everything I know. English, Latin, how to read and write and how to fight. The only things I learned from my father was good business sense and how to sail," she explained. "Everything went downhill the day this sleazy politician rolled through town looking to make a name for himself and become a governor. He set his sights on my mother but when he found out that she was married to my father, he ran his business into the ground. So my father turned to piracy and ended up dying in a skirmish with the British Naval Fleet. My mother died of a broken heart after that and the politician turned his sights to me. If he couldn't have my mother, he'd go after the next best thing.

"He ended up having my uncle murdered and pinned the blame on me. Then, when he found out that I was an illegal immigrant, he tried to use that to get me to marry him so that he could erase my past. But I refused and ended up getting deported back here…," her voice trailed off at the end of the last sentence. "That's when I found my way to that little town and started that shop."

"Wait a minute… if you're from Ryuku… why did they deport you to _Japan_," Mugen demanded with a look of suspicion on his face.

Her face broke into a grin and she laughed softly. "Because the Americans are stupid and forgot that Ryuku and Japan aren't the same thing. They dumped me off somewhere off the coast near Kyoto and by the time they realized their mistake, I was long gone."

"And who is this person you're looking for?" Jin asked.

"My father's old first mate. The only other Japanese person in the town I lived in. His name was… _is _Tanken. After my father died, he took over the ship and sailed to Japan to continue piracy," she replied.

"Wait… are you even sure he's still alive?" Mugen questioned.

"Yes. Absolutely… he has to be," she insisted. "He sent me a letter when he landed off the southernmost point of Japan. He told me about my father leaving the ship to him and said that he'd send me a little bit of money every now and then. The postage always bounces around southern Japan and Ryuku, so that's where he is… I know it."

"Let's get some sleep, for now. We have a long way to go, even if we're better funded this time," Jin said and laid down to rest.

The others followed suit, but it was a long time before anyone finally drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 7**

The journey went on a lot like how it had before. The only difference was that now they had money to pay for lodgings and for food when the meager supply Ashi had grabbed ran out. One condition was that Ashi was the only one allowed to handle the money outside of the ryō or two she gave her travelling companions when they came across a new town to rest in. The first few towns Mugen and Jin would head straight for the Red Light District or gambling house and lose all of their money in a single night. But then as time went on and they grew bored of substandard company of the whores in the brothel and the creeps in the gambling houses, they instead would spend their money on wiser things like a new pair of geta and a sheet of steel to replace the geta Mugen was wearing and some thread for Jin to repair some of the bigger holes in his clothing.

Granted, every once in a while Mugen would pick up a girl in one of the bars or restaurants in a town but even these encounter lessened as he would come back to whatever room they were staying in looking grumpier than before.

"I wonder what his problem is," Fuu mused one evening after they heard Mugen slam the door shut to their room all the way from down in the hot springs.

"The only way to know is to ask, I guess," Ashi replied leaning against one of the rocks with her arms behind her head.

"That's easier said than done," Fuu mumbled.

"Why? You've known him for how long? You should be able to talk to him about practically anything by now," Ashi pointed out.

"But… well… I just…," Fuu stuttered trying to find the right excuses.

"You love him, don't you?" Ashi asked after putting two and two together. In the steam from the hot spring Fuu's face burned red hot and Ashi knew she was right. "I don't blame you, and it's only natural, you know. Just look at all the women he's able to woo."

Her words did nothing to comfort Fuu whose face fell. "That's one of the problems, though. He's been with so many women. I've never even kissed a man before," she admitted.

"How long have you loved him?"

"I'm not sure. I guess it started that first time he saved me after that one-armed man kidnapped me and had Mugen poisoned. Even though he was in so much pain, he fought to get to me. Granted there was also the antidote as incentive, but still, he saved me," she mumbled.

"But that was only the beginning, right? There had to have been something else, something that really set it into stone."

"When he was caught in that explosion." Her voice was a whisper, now, as she remembered that horrible night. "A childhood friend of his tricked him in order to kill him. He set off an explosion on a boat Mugen was supposed to use to steal a bunch of gold from these government officials. I realized then, that there was no way I could lose him. Not this way. Not so soon. I found him washed ashore in a fisherman's net and when I first looked at him, I thought he _was _dead. But then…," her voice trailed off at the memory of his coughing and sputtering and how she single handedly dragged him back to the shack they were holed up in to clean his wounds and dry him up.

Ashi moved closer to Fuu and nudged her shoulder gently. "It's alright. I'm sure that one of these days he's gonna realize he loves you, too. Hell, he might already know it, but could just be afraid to tell you. A man like him, he's probably afraid of being rejected like that."

"Mugen? Afraid of rejection?" Fuu couldn't wrap her mind around the thought.

"Not like the sluts who slink around in bars and alleyways. Rejection from someone who actually means something to him. Who has the potential to give him something he's never had and at the same time hurt him like no one else has."

Fuu was speechless. She had never thought of things like that. She just thought that what she was feeling was simply a childish crush that would fade away over time. But no. It hadn't. She never stopped thinking about him during her time working at that hotel. Every time she saw someone that resembled Mugen in even the slightest ways, she was always hit with a wave of sadness that she may never see him again. She could remember how his eyes followed her as she walked down her chosen road when they parted ways. Every time he gets into a fight she worries that it'll be his last. But never in her wildest dreams did she consider that he might feel the same way. That he _could _feel the same way. That they could give each other something the other couldn't obtain on their own.

Back in the room they found both men fast asleep but this time when Fuu looked at his sleeping face, she wondered what he thought of her. What went through his mind when he had to save her. That night, she dreamt of being tied to the cross, again. Every detail was sharp and real like always. The smell of the sea and charred wood. The feel of the ropes holding her to the cross. The taste of blood in her mouth. The sound of his voice as he ordered them to give her back. Like she was a toy another toddler had stolen from him. No… not like that. The rage in his gunmetal-grey eyes was different. He was angry because he had let her get captured by these lunatics. Scared that she might actually die. Relieved that she wasn't already dead. Angered even further by the injuries inflicted upon her. Even though it was just a dream of a memory, it was all so clear. All so realistic. How hadn't she seen it before?

**Part 8**

Once again she was yanked out of the dream by Mugen shouting at her to wake up. But this time she didn't talk back. Her conversation with Ashi last night and the new revelation in her dream had rendered her silent. It wasn't until a few hours later as they were walking that he turned and asked why she was so quiet.

"It's nothing," she lied.

"Did some asshole try something back at that town?" he demanded angrily. He turned back towards the way they had come and gripped the handle of his sword tightly. "If so, I'll go back there and cut his balls off."

Something fluttered in her chest.

"No, it was just some bad dreams I had last night. It kept me up and I'm a little tired," she excused. At least it was partly true.

Mugen examined her for a few more seconds before turning away. "Well, dreams are dreams. At least they aren't real."

_'Even if you're dreaming about a memory?' _she thought to herself. '_What do you dream of, Mugen? What goes on underneath all that hair?'_

A few nights later, they found themselves at a small hut sitting nearby a natural hot spring. Jin said something about making sure the area was clear while Fuu gathered her things for a bath which left Mugen and Ashi alone for the time being.

"So then…," Mugen began.

"So…," Ashi replied.

"When are you gonna show me your rack?" he asked cutting straight to the point.

Ashi blinked at him and burst into laughter.

"Hey! I'm serious! I've seen the tits of just about every woman I've met. Hell, I even got a peek at Fuu's once… from the side… in the dark… when she was taking a bath."

"Trust me, Mugen, it'd be a very bad idea if we tried to hook up," Ashi said as she stood and walked over to one of the windows to lean out into the cool, night air.

"I'm serious, though, just a quick look. You don't even have to show me your nipples if you don't want to," he begged softly into her ear.

"I'm also serious. It'd be a bad idea. For one, we're traveling companions and it'd be very awkward; two, I'd be getting in the way of someone who's already got their eyes on you not to mention the fact that we barely know each other," she replied.

Ignoring the comment about someone having their eyes set on him, Mugen ran his fingers gently down her spine sending tingles throughout her limbs. "That just makes it better," he whispered hotly into her ear. He placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. "At least give me a kiss." He ran a calloused finger gently along her jaw as a smirk picked up the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly that smirking mouth was kissing her. Ashi stood frozen, hoping and praying for it to be over soon. The last thing she wanted was to betray Fuu. Besides, it felt all wrong… not like Tanken.

Mugen wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer as his other hand caressed her face and neck. Part of him was determined as always to make this feel right. Not that it didn't feel good, but it wasn't feeling right, just like all the other kisses he's experienced. Her mouth opened under his and he snaked his tongue over hers desperate for something to happen, for something to spark. But no… maybe if he-.

"Dammit," he cursed as he released her and backed away.

Ashi leaned her back against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. All the while she was trying to calm her racing thoughts. It wasn't Tanken but it wasn't _him _either, at least. Not every man was that asshole politician. She tried to block him from her thoughts but his pointed face swam across her vision. His green eyes shone as he lifted her skirt.

_NO, _she screamed at herself. _Don't think about him. He's gone now. All the way on the other side of the world where he can't get to you. Where he can't hurt you. Where he can't tie you down and touch you. Oh gods, I think I'm gonna throw up._

Despite her racing mind, she kept her face expressionless as she watched Mugen sit back down on the floor. She could tell he was in a bad mood. That kiss hadn't satisfied him in the same way it made Ashi want to slink away and hide in a hole.

"S-see? I t-told you it would be a bad idea," she stammered. "I-I mean, I hate to tell you I told you so b-but…."

"It's always the same," he muttered.

"What?" she asked.

"It always feels the same. It never feels right… not how it should be," he went on.

"Maybe instead of throwing yourself at every woman you see, you should open your eyes to the one right in front of you," she suggested.

"You're right in front of me," he pointed out with a half-hearted smirk.

"Am I?" she asked.

Just then, Fuu opened the door and entered the hut. Her hair still wet from her bath and a happy smile on her lips as she hummed under her breath. Ashi excused herself saying that she needed to get some air. She said a silent prayer that all her work would finally pay off that night as she walked over and sat under a tree adjacent to the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note:**_Holy long chapter is long. :p Sorry about that, but when it started getting good, I couldn't bring myself to stop. So enjoy this sexi sexi tyme chapter. :D_

**Part 9**

"Is she alright?" Fuu asked feeling worried. Mugen simply shrugged and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "What the hell did you do to her, Mugen? Did you try to kiss her? God, you're such a _pig_, sometimes."

Mugen said nothing as she pulled out the little mirror and a comb that she and Ashi had begun sharing and began to work through the tangles in her hair. She couldn't believe that Mugen had tried to hit on her. After Ashi had confided in her and told her about that that politician guy had done to her while she was in prison. A shudder ran through her at the thought of it and the comb snagged painfully in a particularly tight knot in the back of her hair.

"Ouch!" she cried as she tried to yank it free.

"Here, let me," Mugen's voice said suddenly very close behind her.

"What the-?" she began but Mugen told her to be quiet and sit still.

He didn't have any easier time working the comb through her hair and within minutes the ivory shattered beneath his fingers leaving the teeth dangling from her hair and the shattered remnants of the flowered designs in his hand.

"Stupid thing broke!" he shouted and chucked the broken remains of the comb across the room.

Fuu couldn't help but laugh at his frustration as she pulled the broken teeth from the drying locks of her hair. "I don't think she'll mind too much, but you might have to buy her a new one," Fuu said.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes as she ran her fingers through her hair to manually release the tangles. She was all too aware of him sitting behind her even if she couldn't see his reflection in the mirror. She tried to picture his expression as he sat and brooded. He was probably scowling and hoping for someone to come inside to break through the tension between them. Briefly she wondered what he had said or done to Ashi to make her leave so suddenly… or maybe he hadn't done anything at all and Ashi was just seizing the opportunity to throw them together in a room all by themselves. Maybe she would convince Jin to stay outside for at least a few hours. Something bloomed in her chest at this thought. Hope. She was hoping that they would be alone for a while longer.

They were never alone together, just the two of them. Jin was always sitting silently close by trying not to be seen and yet still managing to be one of the most intimidating figures in the room. The only time she had ever been alone with Mugen was after she found him on the shore and had taken him back to the shack to dress his wounds. It was also the closest she had ever gotten to him as she carefully cleaned and wrapped the many cuts and burns across his body. She remembered marveling at how lean and tanned his body was and yet how much power he was able to exhibit. Even though his arms were skinnier than a rail post, he could still punch a man hard enough to break all the bones in the man's face. Maybe that's how all people born in Ryuku are. Perhaps they all exhibit that same hidden power.

When she reached for her hair pins, Mugen grabbed her wrist. A spark of pleasure ran up her arm and all the way to her belly as she felt his rough hand encircling her tiny wrist. She looked up with him feeling her face begin to burn and she was shocked to see something different in his gunmetal-grey eyes.

"Leave it down," he muttered. "It looks nice that way."

"Mugen…," she whispered.

He released the grip on her wrist but Fuu in turn grabbed the hand that held her and turned it so his palm faced upwards. With delicate fingers, she traced over to multitude of scars and callouses on his fingers and palm and down to the blue prison tattoos on his wrist. She could just make out the line cutting vertically through his palm where the Shaolin master had cut him using only his chi. And there were the lines from the maniacal brother's claws impaling his hand as they fought in the sea. All these injuries had to have hurt, but rarely did he ever show the pain.

Before she knew it, his other hand was reaching to bring her face up to his. The calloused pad of his thumb made light trails across her bottom lip and her eyes widened at the look of curiosity on his face. She had never seen that look on him and it made him seem like a whole other person. The arrogance had been drained from him and now he seemed to be leaning under the weight of something heavy. Whatever burden he bore, Fuu couldn't help but want to help him bear it.

She seized the moment and closed the short distance between them to press her lips to his. For a moment, his breathing halted but as he felt that spark, the spark he had been looking for years for, he began to kiss her back with gusto. When her mouth opened and her tongue flitted over his, he gripped her tightly to his chest not wanting to let the moment go.

"Fuu…," he moaned softly against her lips when she pressed a hand to his chest and gripped the front of his grey shirt.

This was it. This was what he had been looking for for so long. Ashi had been right in saying it had been right in front of him. He just needed to open his eyes. He snaked a hand around her waist and untied to thin cord holding her thin, white kimono closed. When it fell open he ran his hand across her ivory skin soft from the bath and now damp with heat. When the hell did she grow those breasts he was feeling? Surely they hadn't always been there. Granted, he never got a good look at them that time he saw her naked. The most he was able to see was her behind which had left quite an impression on him. Ever since then he would sneak peeks at it whether it be when they were walking or when she would bend over to retrieve something. Even wrapped in layers, he could see the firm shape of it like a ripe peach ready to be plucked from the tree.

There were some nights when he would sit back and reminisce on it and even during the time that they were separate, he would pull the ukiyo-e print she had allowed that pervert to draw of her from a hidden pocket in his gi to stare at. A pang of longing would hit him as he ran his eyes over the curves drawn in ink and think of her voice. The voice that had brought him back from the dead. At the same time that it annoyed the hell out of him, nothing made him feel calmer than to hear her voice.

He pushed her down onto the sleeping mat and she let her arms slip out of the kimono which left her stark naked beneath him. Mugen remedied the situation by quickly slipping off his own clothes only breaking their kiss to pull his shirt over his head. She could feel his hard member pressing against her stomach as he hovered over her. Even though this was her first time and she didn't know how he would handle her, so to speak, she wasn't afraid. Her legs trembled and her heart raced as he continued to run his hands over her body as if memorizing every line and every curve of her figure. In turn she traced the hard planes of his chest and back and through his wild mane of hair.

Finally he pulled away, breathing hard. "It's going to hurt a little bit," he informed her softly.

"I know… but I don't care," she admitted.

An unreadable expression flitted across his features and he reached down to guide himself into her. When he hit the thin membrane marking her a virgin, her breath hitched and she waited until the pain passed from him breaking it. Her fingers dug into the skin of his biceps and she let out a moan when he was fully inside her.

He ran a hand through her hair and kissed her forehead softly. "At least that part's over," he whispered and she moaned once more in reply causing him to chuckle.

Fuu began to move her hips against his tempting him to thrust in and out of her. As she stretched to accommodate him, warmth spread through her and began to build into a tugging sensation deep inside her. She didn't know what was coming, but she wanted it to arrive and quickly. The feeling of him inside and all around her was maddening.

"Mugen… oh please, Mugen…," she begged.

When he heard her pleas, he flipped over so that she was straddling his hips and still being impaled by his throbbing hard on. He dug his fingers roughly into the soft flesh of her hips and guided her up and down. When she finally got the rhythm, she pressed her hands to his chest and began adding her own variations. This quickly caused Mugen to cry out and stiffen as he came inside her while Fuu gyrated a few more times to allow her own orgasm to hit her. When they were both spent, she collapsed onto his chest and listened to his racing heart slow.

With a wince of pain she slid off of him and rolled over onto the mat with her back facing him but Mugen would have none of that. He grabbed her and pulled her close to his side with his arms encircling her protectively. Smiling contently, Fuu drifted off into a dreamless sleep where for once she wasn't plagued by the horrible memory of that day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 10**

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Ashi's voice said just as Jin had reached to open the door to the shack.

"What? Why?" Jin asked alarmed.

Just then, a loud moan and thump came from inside making Jin grab the hilt of his katana. What were Mugen and Fuu up to, now? Did he do something to her? Why was Ashi just standing there calmly?

"Oh no you don't," Ashi hissed, grabbing Jin's arm in a vice-like grip. "I've worked too hard for this to finally happen. Do _not _ruin it for me." She released his wrist and he in turn let go of his katana. "Or them, for that matter," she added.

Finally the truth dawned on Jin and he didn't know whether to be revolted or relieved.

"On one condition," he conceded after a moment's thought.

"What is it?" she asked warily.

"Fill in the holes of your story. You haven't told us everything, and I'd rather not continue traveling with someone keeping secrets from me. It can lead to some bad things," he said quietly feeling a dull ache in his side where the goze assassin, Sara, had cut him with her yari.

Ashi took a moment to consider this, all the while listening to the progressively louder moans from inside the shack. Just when Jin felt as if his calm demeanor was about to crack, she regretfully agreed.

"What are some of the holes you think need filled in?" she asked tossing another twig into the little fire they built to block out the chill of the evening.

"Your uncle. Who was he exactly? And how was he able to teach you so much?"

"Well, like I said, he was a scholar. You probably won't find any books about him or written by him because his journey wasn't to expand knowledge for the betterment of mankind or whatever, it was for his own discovery of self-worth. The only reason he taught me was because my father pressured him. Hell, he probably even paid him for most of the years I was under my uncle's tutelage," she explained.

"But, the fighting-."

"Jin, when I say my uncle traveled the world, I mean the _world_." She expanded her arms to their full length to illustrate her point. "He went from school to school everywhere from England, France, Germany, Africa, India, South America, China, and even here to Japan. He never mastered any one particular art he set out to learn. No. he was what the Americans call, 'a jack of all trades but master to none.'"

"It's that simple," he confirmed with a note of disbelief in his tone.

"It's that simple. Anything else?"

"The person you're looking for… the pirate, Tanken. Who is he to you?"

This gave Ashi pause. She stared deeply into the fire trying to find the right answer. "I don't know, really. We didn't… _date _per say, but… I loved- _love _him. And he loves me." She leaned back against the tree and stared at the night sky through the leaves. "At least I hope he still does. We grew up together. We relied on each other. The only Japanese, Ryukuian, Asian or whatever kids in the town. Naturally, we hated each other, at first." She smiled and chuckled at a memory. "I guess we reminded each other too much of where we were from. Where we had escaped from. I'm sure Mugen's mentioned, but life in Ryuku, especially on that backwater little island… it's not all biscuits and gravy."

"What?" Jin asked perplexed at the phrase.

"Oh, sorry," she laughed catching her mistake. "I mean it wasn't easy. Far from it. Death is something you become overly familiar with at an early age there…." Her voice trailed off as more memories, most of them unspeakable, swam before her vision. When a particularly loud bump from inside the shack startled her from her reverie, Ashi cleared her throat and continued on with her story. "Anyways, it wasn't until we were both driven into a corner by other town's children that we finally, grudgingly accepted to help each other out. From there… things just sort of expanded."

"And your arms… why do you not use them normally?" he broke in to change the subject from rough childhoods.

"That man. The politician. His name was David Matthews. When I was in jail for the murder of my uncle, he would visit me… every evening and he would…." It felt as if something were lodged in her throat. It was hard enough to tell Fuu about this, but Jin? It seemed impossible. She swallowed a few times to wet her cotton-dry mouth and tried again. "He would tie my arms and rape me."

Jin sat shocked by this revelation.

"Ever since, I can't stand to use my arms or hands… to _feel _anything with them. Everything that touches them feels like those ropes binding me to the bars. It took me months before I could stand to pick up a pair of chopsticks, again. All that time I feigned injury and wandered from town to town as a cripple unable to feed herself so that people would take pity on me and help me.

"Tanken was one of the only men kind to me back in the States. That's why I want to find him. Not just because I love him… but to somehow repay that kindness." When she finished her story, they both sat in silence as the sound of the night pressed around them only to be broken by Fuu crying out Mugen's name louder than ever, marking the end to their little session of love making.

"It's about damn time," Ashi grumbled shedding off the feeling of depression from telling Jin her story as if it were a coat.

"I agree…," Jin said as he stood and walked over to the door. "What's this?" He jerked the door but it wouldn't budge under his grip. "No way…."

"What's wrong?" Ashi asked.

Jin released the door handle and looked at the ground solemnly.

"They've locked us out."


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 11**

Fuu woke feeling sore but satisfied despite her back sweating. She felt like she was leaning against a rock in a hot spring that had some sort of rough coating on it and a hard pole or stick digging into her thighs. As time went on, the pole digging into her thigh grew more and more annoying and no matter how much she wiggled around to try and get comfortable she just couldn't.

"If you keep that up, we're gonna have a pretty big mess on our hands, Fuu," said a husky voice in her ear.

Fuu jumped suddenly in his arms and rolled over onto her knees to see him lounging there with sweat gleaming off his tanned body in the morning sunlight. Comprehension slowly dawned on her and her face turned beet red.

"Please tell me this is a dream," she begged to any god who would listen. "There's no way this can be real."

"Oh, it's very real, princess," Mugen said looking her up and down. The lust in his eyes made her face burn up to the roots of her hair.

"B-but..."

"What? Was it that bad that you want it to be a dream?" he asked arching an eyebrow. Then a thought struck him and he grinned slowly from ear to ear. "Or… was it so _good_ that it had to be a dream?"

"I…," her voice trailed off unable to find an answer.

"Here… tell me if you think this is a dream," he said softly pulling her face to his and kissing her deeply.

_Oh wow,_ she thought before her brain short circuited. When they broke away, Mugen held her face in his hands and smirked with his eyebrow arched once more silently asking her if it was still a dream.

"If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up," she panted causing him to chuckle.

"Right back at you princess. Now… what are we gonna do about this?" he asked indicating the throbbing shaft pressing against her stomach between them.

"Um…." She didn't seem to be able to make words travel from her mind to her mouth. Was that really his? Had it really been inside her last night? _All _of it?

"Well, since you're still thinking, how about I help you decide?" He pushed her gently back onto the floor and reached a hand between her legs.

"M-Mugen!" she gasped as he inserted a finger inside her. Then she groaned in pain when he hit a sore spot.

"Oh… you're probably still smarting from last night… hmm…." He retrieved his finger and stopped to think for a moment. "Ah! I know!"

Then he did something totally unexpected by diving quickly between her legs and pressing his mouth to the wet slit. She cried out louder before as he did things with his tongue she never thought possible. In mere minutes she was a puddle of pleasure beneath his touch, her limbs shook uncontrollably and he had to use his strong hands to hold her legs still lest she kick him in the head. When she came her back arced and her hands tangled themselves in his hair. Her breath came in gasps and when he moved his face back up to hers, she couldn't help but breathe in the musk on his mouth.

_Holy shit, _was all her mind could form. Why was the smell of her own musk turning her on, again?

Before he could do anything or say anything else, she went by her gut (which fluttered like the wings of a butterfly) and took initiative by pushing him onto the floor and wrapping her mouth around his throbbing member.

"Fuu!" he moaned in shock. Then he leaned his head back and reveled in the feel of her mouth. If he thought it felt good to kiss that mouth, it felt a thousand times better feeling it sucking him off. She let out a muffled moan when the taste of his semen hit the back of her throat and she clenched her eyes shut as she had no other choice but to swallow it all except for a drop or two that slipped through her lips. Finally he went limp in her grasp and, both panting with faces red, they kissed once more, the taste of each other still fresh on their lips.

The moment would have been perfect had Jin and Ashi broken through the door with blue masks of rage. Literally. Their faces were blue from sleeping outside in the chill.

"Okay, I think it's time we broke up the lovely couple for a while," Ashi ranted through chattering teeth.

"Ashi! Jin! I'm so sorry! I completely forgot!" Fuu cried completely forgetting she was still naked. When the thought crossed her mind, she grabbed her kimono and covered herself.

"You can make it up to us by getting out so we can warm up and take a nap," Jin quipped through thin, blue lips.

"Um…," Mugen and Fuu began simultaneously.

"_Out!" _Jin and Ashi finished throwing them bodily from the shack and tossing their clothes out behind them before shutting the door tight.

**Part 12**

Back on the road, they walked silently in twos. Jin and Ashi were in front still giving Fuu and Mugen the cold shoulder. Fuu felt terrible about leaving them outside in the cold while she was having incredible sex with Mugen inside the warm shack. Mugen, however, didn't care one bit and was instead replaying the events of the previous night and that morning over and over in his mind.

"Look… Ashi? Jin? I'm really sorry about what we did last night… locking you out and all. It's just-," Fuu began.

"Forget it," Ashi sighed in reply. "I'm not angry at you. We're just happy you two finally got that out of the way. At least I am. From the moment you guys stepped into my shop, I knew there was something, but it hadn't been acted upon, yet."

"But still!" Fuu ran around in front of Ashi's path and looked at the woman with big, brown eyes full of tears.

Ashi smiled and did the unexpected: she placed a hand on Fuu's shoulder in reassurance.

"It's fine, really. We're not that mad. Are we, Jin?"

Jin nodded once in agreement but Fuu wasn't satisfied. "But… there as to be some way I- _we _can make it up to you."

"Well… I guess you can buy me a new comb for starters…," she said thoughtfully. "Or at least Mugen can," she added with a mischievous wink.

Fuu's face turned from pink to red.

"Wait… you were listening?" Mugen asked angrily.

"Sure," she replied with a shrug. "I had to know if my plan had worked or not. Nice ass, by the way." She gave him another wink.

"You little…," he growled and pulled out his sword and chased after her as she ran off laughing maniacally.

"I only saw a little bit!" she called out over her shoulder as he continued to chase him. "It wasn't like- aaaaaaaaah!"

She was suddenly falling hard and fast down a slope hidden from view by a clump of bushes. When she landed sand choked her mouth and vision. The others soon followed her making their decent more carefully and landing relatively safely on the sand. Ashi coughed and spit up sand and wiped it from her eyes before looking at the surrounding area. She spotted a large wooden sign sticking out of the sand in front of broken, wooden dock. Moored at the dock was a ship. With her heart pounding from both the chase and from the realization of where they were, she walked over to read the sign. On it were words that immediately caused her face to break into a grin.

"What is it? What does it say?" Jin asked trying to read the sign but failing.

"It's Latin. From Dante's Alighieri." She pointed at the words carved into the sign. "_Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes," _she read pointing to each word in the phrase.

"Meaning what?" Mugen grunted still feeling grumpy.

Ashi quickly translated it in to English in her mind and then spoke the words in Japanese. "_Abandon hope, all ye who enter here._ He's welcoming us to Hell," she explained and turned to look at her friends with excitement dancing in her eyes. "We're here."

"Yes, you are," a deep, rough voice confirmed from behind them.

They turned to see a large mound of muscle flanked on both sides by even bigger specimens who cracked their knuckles and grin maliciously. Mugen smiled back feeling adrenaline sing in his veins at the prospective fight.

"Bring it on, assholes!" he drew his sword but was immediately taken down by the two ton fist brought down on top of his head by Mountain of Muscle #1.

Fuu's cry was muffled by a fourth thug appearing out of nowhere and wrapping a cloth reeking of sake over her mouth.

"Mugen! Fuu!" Ashi cried out as she watched the thugs drag them away. "Jin, we gotta-." But she was cut off by spying two more mountains of muscle descend on the samurai and pummeling him into submission. "Bastards!" She screamed and let loose a volley of kicks that broke more than one rib in her opponents. But she, too, was taken down by the first man hitting her in the side of the head with the hilt of his sword.

"Well, well, well… the captain's gonna be quite pleased by this turn of events," the man said before hitting her once more causing the world to turn black.


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 13**

_Waves lapped softly over his feet as he stood in the sun and watched the ships sailing by. One day he would go on one and escape this horrible place. He knew it. A tentative hand touched his arm but he yanked it away and glared down at the perpetrator. Kohza. Of course. He had almost forgotten she was the one who suggested they come down to the beach. Something about her brother, Mukuro, wanting to talk to him._

_"Mukuro's waiting," she murmured. _

_She was always quiet. He hated it. It put him on edge. The quiet ones were always the trickiest. Especially when they were women. He took one last, long look out at the ship growing smaller and smaller on the horizon and began walking down the beach once more…._

"Mugen!" a muffled voice called.

It sounded a million miles away and seemed to echo in his head. His head. Fuck, it was throbbing.

"Mugen!" the voice called again sounding a little closer this time.

He was drawn to the voice. It seemed so familiar. The world started to rock back and forth under him. It was soothing.

"Mugen!" Fuu shouted and his eyes flew open to see her worried face hovering upside-down above his.

That wasn't right. Why was she upside-down? Was he back in that place again? Was she dead, too? Then he realized that he was very much alive and the throbbing in his head was all too real. He groaned and sat up holding the plum-sized lump on the top of his skull. Whoever caused it was going to pay dearly. Then he saw Fuu's swollen lip and he swore that whoever did _that _was going to die. Horribly. Painfully. They would die screaming at the end of his sword. _His sword! _He quickly patted himself and felt it was missing.

"Bastard took it!" he cursed then instantly regretted it as it caused his head to throb even harder.

"Lay back down," Fuu ordered softly.

Normally he would protest, but at the moment it was out of the question so instead he obliged and laid his head back down on her lap.

"Where are the others?" he asked in a whisper so as to not aggravate the pain.

"The cell next to us," she replied indicating Jin's sleeping form.

Next to Jin, Ashi was sitting with her back against the wall and her face lowered while her arms laid limply at her sides. Mugen couldn't tell if she was still knocked out or just defeated.

"What the fuck happened?"

"They came out of nowhere. Pirates. They knocked you three out and threw us all in here saying something about setting sail for Miyako."

Mugen shot straight back up, the pain all but gone from his head as the news filled him with horror. They were going back. Back there. Back to that hell. They were in danger. More danger than any of them realized. Except maybe for Ashi. That would explain the defeated look about her. She knew. She knew they were all doomed. Going back to Miyako was a death sentence.

**Part 14**

Despite their best efforts, Ashi wouldn't budge and inch. When Jin tried to shake her shoulder, she kicked him so hard in the shin he was sure the bruise would last for weeks. When that failed, he turned and sat close to the bars and discussed strategy with Fuu and Mugen.

"Do you see any way off the ship?" he asked Mugen.

"No," he replied reluctantly. "And even if there was, we're probably miles away from sore by now. There's no way we'd be able to swim back."

"What about a rowboat?" Fuu asked.

Mugen shook his head. "It didn't look like there was a rowboat on the ship we found, assuming that's the ship we're on."

Fuu's face fell and she looked over at Ashi. She could see her eyes were open, but it seemed like they were staring off into space. Excluding Fuu, Ashi was the first to wake up. She had stood and kicked at the bars until one of the pirate thugs came in and struck them with a heavy metal pole and told her to shut up until they reached Miyako. That's when Ashi collapsed against the wall and grew limp.

Judging by both Mugen and Ashi's reactions to learning about the ship going to Miyako, Fuu was sure it wasn't a good place. It scared the wits out of her to see them this way. The only one who was staying calm was Jin, for the moment. There was a cut on his face and his kimono had been torn in the scuffle, but other than that he had come out relatively unscathed.

It occurred to her how that very morning she had woken up feeling so happy and everything was so perfect, but now she was locked away in a cell… wait, what did they call these things on ships? Brags? Bings? Brigs! She was locked in the brig on a pirate ship with seemingly no way out. Everything had shifted so suddenly it felt as if the ground had fallen out beneath her. She became so lost in her thought that she didn't notice that Mugen was trying to talk to her.

"Oi… oi, princess, wake up." He snapped his fingers under her nose which brought her back to reality.

"Ah… sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't go zonking out on me, now," he told her. "We're all gonna have to work together if we expect to get out of here."

"But... what about Tanken? What if he's here?" she asked.

"If he is, he sure as hell doesn't care about his girlfriend being locked away down here," Mugen pointed out.

"Unless he doesn't know she's here," Jin said.

The door crashed open causing the trio to jump and in walked four of the scariest men Fuu had ever seen before. The obvious leader was the man leading the procession, the same man who had knocked Mugen out on the beach. His dark hair was braided into dreadlocks with silver and gold pieces dangling from each lock causing him to jingle like a coin purse every time he turned his head. He seemed to be wearing an old dress shirt from the British Navy but it was well worn with holes dotting it, the ruffled collar was frayed and there seemed to be a large stain splattered across his chest that seemed suspiciously like blood. He looked from Mugen, Fuu and Jin sitting close to the bars separating their cells to Ashi his eyes lighting up when they rested on her limp form.

"Oh yes," he breathed with a smile. "The boss is going to be more than happy about our little catch, today."

"Who are you people?" Fuu asked unable to stop herself.

The man turned and glared at her. "Why we're nothing but harmless pirates, my dear," he answered.

Mugen snorted. "That's like calling the Shogun a just and fair government. If it's true, I'll eat my sword."

"I can help you with that if you'd like, boy. Or perhaps you'd prefer a taste of _my _sword."

"No thanks, I don't swing that way," Mugen countered.

The man scowled and ordered for two of the men in the room to sit and guard the prisoners. He also told them to make sure they didn't try anything funny and that they had permission to kill any of them except for the woman in blue.

"We'll be coming into port in a few minutes, so you kiddies just sit tight and we won't have any problems."


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 15**

"Boss, we brought the new shipment of ammunitions in from the mainland," Dreadlock Man said from the doorway carved into the cave wall.

"Good, unload the cargo and assemble the men. I have intel on a transport ship bringing in a large quantity of gold from China tonight," the captain replied from his candle lit desk.

As always his face was hidden in the shadows so it was hard for Dreadlock Man to see. He hated that. Being unable to see the captain's expression as he gave orders from that room. After finding that woman at last, he wanted to gauge his reaction. He wanted to know once and for all why they had been looking for her. They had monitored her for almost three years in that little town as she managed her shop, but when they caught wind of it burning to the ground and her heading south, the boss ordered them to keep an eye out for her and to bring her to him as soon as they found her.

_But why?_ He asked himself bitterly. _Why does the boss care so much for one woman?_

"Yes, sir," Dreadlock Man finally said. As he turned to leave, he decided to tell him. "By the way, we picked up a group who got a little close to the ship. You might want to check them out in the cells."

The captain grunted in reply. "Good, tell the men not to harm them. I'll be down soon enough."

Dreadlock Man held back his frustration and left the captain to go see to the men unloading the cargo.

"Don't let it get to you," a soft, feminine voice said from the shadows.

He turned to see a girl with tanned skin and wild hair.

"Hmph, you," he grumbled.

She had joined them a few months ago when they found her afloat on a miniscule raft. Even though it was bad luck to have a woman on board a ship's crew, the captain refused to get rid of her. Just another reason for the plan.

"Is everything ready for the plan?" he asked.

She nodded with feigned innocence. But he saw through it all. He had seen her "persuading" the other crew members. He could see the intelligence in her eyes. She knew exactly how to get what she wanted and she exploited it. He vowed that as soon as the plan succeeded he would sail out to the deepest part of the ocean and dump her off the side with a cannon strapped to her feet.

"Tell the others to unload everything and ready the ship for a raid tonight. There's a shipment of Chinese gold coming through and the boss plans on stealing it."

Without waiting for her to respond, he left to go back down to the prisoners. He wanted to be there when the boss saw they had the girl.

**Part 16**

"Hey you sorry pieces of shit! Let me out of here so I can kick your asses!" Mugen bellowed from his tiny cell.

"Mugen, I don't think that's going to work too well," Jin said from the cell next to him.

"Yeah, don't worry! We'll be fine!" Fuu called from the place she hung on the wall.

The truth was she was scared shitless. The pirates had shoved Mugen and Jin into cells no bigger than a dog cage while they had hung Fuu and Ashi from shackles mounted high on the wall opposite of the cages. One of the pirates kept coming in and out of the prison to look at Fuu and giggle uncontrollably as if he had just hit the jackpot. Normally she would be flattered by men ogling her, but this man was a pirate, plus she had Mugen to think about. Then she heard the giggling man again and felt her heart race as she realized what was coming.

The man was scrawny and pale with light, blond hair that hung loosely around his gaunt face. He walked over and laid a hand on one of her breasts to fondle and squeeze it causing Fuu to cry out and recoil at the touch. It was all wrong.

"_Get your slimy hands off of her, you bastard_!" Mugen roared and thrashed around his cage.

The man turned and giggled at Mugen. "Soon, soon. Yes, yes, soon."

Just then the door burst open to reveal Dreadlock Man and another man. Dreadlock Man glared at Giggles and jerked his thumb indicating the order to leave. The other man, however, stood in the middle of the room and examined the prisoners. Fuu saw in the torchlight that his hair was short and the color of copper while his cheekbones stood high in his face and his lips were full. He looked young, maybe Mugen and Ashi's age, she decided. When he turned and saw Ashi's limp form, his brown eyes lit up and a smile broke out onto his face causing dimples to appear in his cheeks.

"Ashi," he said.

Her head jerked up at the sound and her eyes were wide with shock. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was him. He was here. He was alive.

"Tanken," she replied with tears brimming.

"Are these your friends?" he asked to which she nodded. He turned to Dreadlock Man and resumed his calm expression. "Let these people down. Don't give them their weapons back, though, and keep them here in the prison. Just don't confine them in the cells. Also, bring them a bit of food," he ordered.

"Y-yes sir," the man replied.

"Come, Ashi," he said unlocking the shackles and helping her down. "We have a lot to discuss."


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 17**

Giggles returned while they were eating the meager pot of food brought to them. They didn't even have a chance to fight back because the guys flanking him were armed to the teeth and bore over two hundred pounds of muscle each. But Mugen fought anyways because there was no way in hell he was gonna let that little rat touch his… what…? What was she to him now? Girlfriend? Ew, it sounded so wrong to say that. And did she even want to be his girlfriend? He still hadn't worked any of that headache inducing madness through but he did know that if he did so much as untie her obi, he would make sure that the guy wished he had just slit his throat. When the Bicep Twins had been taken care of, they immediately searched them for anything they could use to bust out of there.

"You find our swords and Ashi, I'll go after Fuu and find us a boat to get the hell out of here," Mugen barked as he took off running down the path he was sure Giggles had taken.

At least he could follow the sound of her screaming and cursing the man who took her. He was starting to get tired of saving her ass, but he knew he had to. He couldn't- _wouldn't _let anyone touch her. But the place was like a maze. It seemed that the pirates had been tunneling through the rock for ages to form pathways that snaked under the island. More than once he came across a room filled with gold but no Fuu. Maybe if they got through all the pirates he'd steal some of their gold and then blow up the rest as a big "fuck you" to the assholes who had imprisoned them.

"Mugen!" a new voice called suddenly as he rounded a corner into a small room with branching paths.

He knew that voice. He had hoped to never hear it again.

"Kohza," he snarled when she stepped out from the shadows.

"I never thanked you for killing Shiren," she said with wide eyes.

"Who?" he asked scratching his head and looking around. _Damn, they already surrounded me_, he noted.

"The shogunate official I had planned to run away with," she replied.

The others stepped from the carved tunnels with weapons held at the ready. They closed in on him and pounced….

"I suspect you have a lot of questions for me," Tanken said as he poured a glass of whiskey.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I can make some good guesses," she replied.

"Then please, enlighten me." He sat at the wooden desk and inclined for her to sit opposite to him.

"By the judge of things, you're the leader of these pirates, but I already knew that because dad left the ship to you."

"Go on," he urged.

"I'm guessing you've been having me followed since I left town and was waiting for me to show up at that dock, hence the sign with the quote from Dante's Alighieri."

"Actually, I've had you followed since you first set foot in Japan," he chuckled and took a sip of his whiskey.

Ashi rocked back on her heels once and smirked. "Do you know _why _I came to Japan?"

"No, actually," he admitted.

"Uncle Scott was murdered and that Governor Matthews pinned the blame on me. Instead of the noose, I took deportation," she explained.

"And they brought you to Japan instead of Ryuku." He laughed and stood from his chair. "Stupid Americans."

"Exactly," she whispered.

"You seem different, though… sadder," he noted.

"The times have changed," she lied.

"I've missed you," he said softly moving closer to her.

"So have I."

He stroked her cheek and leaned in to kiss her. Her head grew light and her heart pounded in her chest. Gods how she missed him. When they broke apart, he held her close and pressed his nose into her hair to inhale her scent.

"_In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire?"_ he whispered into her ear in English.

She smiled. "You remember my favorite poem."

"How could I forget? Tell me… tell me what happened, Ashi," he begged.

"I have to get my friends out of here, first. I'm sorry, but I don't trust your crew."

"Don't worry, I don't trust them either. On the eastern tip of the island is a fully stocked ship. A small one, granted, but it's enough to get you back to Japan safely."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. I'll make my way to the mainland eventually."

"No! Not when I finally found you! Come with me!" she begged.

"I still have some things to take care of."

"Please, Tanken… don't leave me, again…. You have no idea…," she sobbed and clutched the front of his shirt. "No idea…."

"There's one last job I have to do… a shipment of gold from China. I plan on using it to retire. Leave the pirate business for good. It's something I've wanted to do for ages," he explained.

"Then do it. I'll even help you, but please, come with me."

Before Tanken could reply, a loud explosion echoed through the tunnels and shook the walls.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Fuck… I guess they've decided to go ahead and mutiny."

"Mutiny? You don't think…."

"Let's go find out. Here, take your friends' weapons. If the crew is mutinying, I have no qualms in killing them, now."


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 18**

Jin was getting tired of running through these dimly lit tunnels. He didn't think himself to be claustrophobic, but the way the shadows bounced on the walls and made it look like they were closing in on him, he swore he would never go into a cave ever again. Not to mention the maze-like design to the place. It didn't take him long to find the armory but his katana was nowhere to be found. Cursing silently, he laid eyes on a large stack of barrels along one of the walls. Inside them was gunpowder.

_Time to level the playing field a little, _he thought to himself as he cracked open one of the barrels and let the gunpowder spill forth. _If I can't be armed in this battle, no one will be._

From the doorway he tossed the torch and ran as fast as his feet would carry him before the explosion shook the cavern so hard he feared it would collapse on him. When his ears stopped ringing from the explosion, he heard the angry shouts of the pirates echoing off of the walls. Picking a random tunnel, he ran until he reached what seemed to be the main chamber. There, moored on the dock was the ship still being unloaded from their venture. From what Jin could see, the cargo was made up of mostly ammunition and more gunpowder. A lot of good it will do now that most of their weaponry was blown to smithereens.

"Looks like one of the little mice escaped his cage," a rough voice said from behind him.

Jin turned to see Dreadlock Man carrying an oversized hatchet. Really Jin would have called it an axe, but the blade was all wrong.

"My sword… where is it?" Jin demanded.

The man chuckled and held the giant hatchet up higher. "You're going to have to go through me to get to it."

Mugen woke up to the world upside down for the second time that day. He was really getting sick of it. But judging from the pain in his ankles and the blood rushing to his head, he could tell that the _Pantu_ weren't going to pay him a visit. He tried to lift his arms but they felt as if they had been filled with lead. When he looked, he saw that someone had tied a cannon to his wrists and pulled the ropes taut enough that he couldn't budge an inch. The only thing he could move was his head but doing this made him dizzy.

"Good, you're awake," Kohza's voice said from his left. "I was afraid I'd have to start before you had a chance to wake up."

"Let me out of here, bitch," he growled.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," she replied. Mugen noted a difference in her voice from the last time he saw her. She seemed different somehow. She sounded dead inside. Hollow. He watched her walk over to a little niche carved into the wall and pull out a sharp looking knife that gleamed in the candlelight. "It's time for me to thank you for killing Shiren."

She pressed the knife to his face and pressed down so that blood welled up around the blade. When she pulled it away, he was sure it had gone deep enough to hit done. But he held his tongue. The pain was nothing. Already he was starting to loosen the ropes around his wrists. If he could free even one hand, he'd be able to reach up and knock the bitch out.

"We were going to run away together, you know," she said walking back over to pull out a larger knife. It was more of a cleaver, really. "Start a new life with the money he stole. There were only two people in the way. Mukuro and you. But you had to go and ruin it. You ruined it all, you bastard."

"You deserved it," he grunted. "That was the second time you almost got me killed. Luckily I'm a lot tougher than you think I am."

"We'll see about that," she whispered.

The innocent little girl persona had crumbled away. Ever since he could remember she had always relied on the big, strong men around her to protect her at every turn. She made herself out to be weak and helpless. But one bat of an eyelash and one honey-sweet word from her mouth and she could have practically anything she wanted. Her brother worked his ass off trying to bring her the world on a silver platter. Hell, even Mugen used to feel that need to protect her because she was the only girl in the group. But then she ratted him out to the authorities and watched him almost die.

When the explosion shook the torture chamber they were hulled up in, she cursed under her breath and looked at Mugen with loathing in her eyes.

"I'm sorry that we have to cut this short, but it seems like they're starting the party without me and I can't have that happening." She swiped the cleaver across his stomach but he refused to cry out. Blood was dripping into his eye and now across his chest but he refused to give her that satisfaction. She scowled and sliced again. "Just _die_, already! D-!"

A blade burst through the middle of her chest cutting off her sentence. Kohza stared down at it as blood bloomed across her shirt and dripped to the floor. Behind her was Fuu wearing a mask of rage Mugen never thought possible.

"Don't. You. _Dare. _Touch him," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"It… can't be…," Kohza breathed before collapsing onto the floor.

Mugen looked up at Fuu in amazement. She had a cut above her eyebrow and her lip was still swollen. Her hair was hanging loose from its knot and her kimono was torn in places. But despite all that and even from upside down, she was gorgeous and Mugen had never been more in love.


	12. Chapter 12

**Part 19**

Fuu had been able to get away from Giggles relatively quickly compared to the other times she had been kidnapped. When she had the chance, she had grabbed onto one of the abundant wall sconces holding a torch and held on for dear life. When he dropped her and turned to slap her, she lifted the torch and hit him over the head with it which set his hair on fire.

"No, no, no! You can't! Not my Beauty! Not my Backwards Beauty!" he cried as he ran around trying to put out the flames.

Only when she had already run far away did she realize what he meant. She had half a mind to go back there and finish him off for being a disgusting pervert, but when she heard Kohza's voice echoing from up ahead, she decide instead to investigate. There, hanging from his feet in a room with blood dripping from his face was Mugen. Actually, the room was more of a torture chamber. Chains hung from the ceiling and walls and there were tables with straps and cranks that were meant to pull a person apart until he or she gave the torturer information. Blood speckled the walls and along one of the walls were multiple niches carved to hold different instruments of torture. She had no idea what half of the instruments did, but she knew that all of them would give her nightmares.

Then the explosion rocked the walls shook loose soil from the ceiling making Kohza turn and scowl. Fuu was shocked at how much she had changed from the last time she saw her. Telling Fuu to give up because Mugen was already dead. Back then she had seemed so innocent and scared, but now….

"I'm sorry that we have to cut this short, but it seems like they're starting the party without me and I can't have that happening," Kohza said turning back to Mugen.

As Kohza talked, Fuu crept into the room and found a nice, long blade hanging in one of the niches. She walked slowly behind the other girl and readied the weapon. Kohza swiped the cleaver across Mugen's stomach but he gritted his teeth against the pain. Blood was dripping into his eye and now across his chest making Fuu's stomach churn. She scowled and sliced again.

"Just _die_, already! D-!" Her scream was cut off by Fuu shoving the blade through her heart from the back.

Anger surged through her like Fuu had never felt before. "Don. You. _Dare._ Touch him," she hissed.

"It… can't be…," Kohza breathed before collapsing to the ground.

"Fuu!" Mugen cried out in amazement.

She looked at him and felt her eyes prickle with tears but she blinked these away and quickly began working on the ropes binding his wrists to the cannon below him.

"Looks like the tables have turned, Mugen," she said softly so he wouldn't hear the fear in her voice. What had she just done? She had never killed anyone before. Not really. There was a pervert in a brothel she had broken a vase over, but she was sure he had lived.

"Fuu that was-."

She shushed him and told him she had to concentrate on lowering him from the ceiling. When he was freed, she sat on the floor and pulled her knees to her chest trying to make herself grow smaller and smaller until she disappeared. She was horrified with herself. Mugen was probably horrified as well. There was no way he would-.

Mugen sank to the floor and wrapped his arms around her. "That was the greatest thing I've ever seen you do," he told her.

"M-Mugen…." That's when the tears broke loose. She clutched the front of his gi and sobbed.

"Oi, oi, princess. Don't cry!" he scolded. "You just saved my ass! And you looked hot doing it!"

"Wha-?" She was speechless. Had he really just called her hot?

"C'mon… we better find the others and get out of here before any more explosions go off and collapse the whole island."

He pulled her to her feet and brushed the dust from the front of her kimono. Finally she shook her head and dried her tears.

"Right," she replied.

**Part 20**

As Ashi and Tanken were running, they passed a man trying to push a large cart full covered in a tarp.

When he spotted the captain, he stopped and shouted, "Sir! The men! It's a mutiny!"

"I see… and that's why you're stealing some of the treasure we've being hoarding… I'm guessing that makes you part of the mutiny as well?"

Sweat brimmed on the man's brow as he pulled his sword from its sheath. "I-I'm sorry, sir… you see I had no choice…."

"Then I have no choice but to kill you for betrayal," Tanken replied.

The man barely had a chance to register the statement before his head was severed from his shoulders and rolling around on the floor.

"Does that make pirate hunting season open?" Ashi asked with a smirk.

"That it does," Tanken replied as more mutineers rushed at them. He quickly turned and cut through three of them before dodging a fourth. "These men are good around a blade, so be care-." He broke off the sentence when he turned to see the rest of the men either dead or dying at the hand (or foot rather) of Ashi without her having drawn her dual dao once.

"I think we got this." She winked at him and set off down the tunnel following the sounds of people screaming and dying.

In the large main chamber was Jin whirling around at least a dozen men including Dreadlock Man. He was holding them all off using a plank of wood he had wrenched up from the dock.

"Jin!" Ashi called. "Toss him his katana!"

Jin looked up at the sound of his name and leapt into the air in time to catch and unsheathe his sword so that when he came down, he was a spinning arc of death and destruction. From another tunnel ran Mugen pulling Fuu along by her wrist. When he spotted Tanken and Ashi, he scowled and charged at them.

"That guy has my sword!" he bellowed.

"Stop!" Ashi shouted and blocked his advance with a leg with his gut.

He glared at her. "What's the big idea?!"

She rolled her eyes and turned to Tanken. "Give him back his sword so he'll shut the fuck up, please," she ordered. When Mugen had strapped sword safely to his back she tapped her foot as if waiting for an apology. "Happy, now?"

"Very," Mugen smirked. "Now, then… INTO THE FRAY WE GO!"

"Mugen!" Fuu cried out in shock watching him slice and dice his way through the ever growing crowd of pirates.

"Don't worry, it's probably best to just sit this one out," Ashi sighed. "That ship you mentioned, how do we get to it?"

"A ship?" Fuu asked.

Tanken nodded. "Yeah, I have it hidden through a tunnel behind that rock." He pointed at a boulder about twice as large as Dreadlock Man. "I told the men the tunnel was collapsed and had them seal it up."

"How the hell are we supposed to get to it, then!?" Fuu shouted angrily.

"Boom," he replied.

"Boom?" Fuu and Ashi said simultaneously.

"Big boom," he confirmed.

"Big boom…."

"Just… keep the others distracted and I'll set off the explosion."

As he ran over to the boulder through the shadows, they turned and looked at the progress of the fight and then at each other.

"I think they can handle things, don't you?" Fuu asked.

"Very much so, let's go make sure Tanken doesn't '_boom_' the whole cavern," Ashi replied.

"Do you think he would?"

"Well… as I recall he was more of a _book _smarts kind of guy. But even so, he wouldn't trust everything he read in those books. When he would try to apply something he had learned in the classroom to real life, he would tend to overestimate things. Using a little more force than necessary to knock a guy out or using too much salt in a recipe… stuff like that. I'm praying he's grown out of that."

He hadn't.

"Ummm… Tanken?" Ashi asked when he had joined them in cover. "How much dynamite did you use?"

"About… I don't know… maybe a dozen?"

"A dozen?!" she screamed in panic. "Tanken you idiot!"

"Hit the deck!" Fuu cried out covering her head with her hands.


	13. Chapter 13

**Part 21**

Seconds later, an explosion rocked the cavern that was felt throughout the entire island and some say even on the mainland. Everyone covered their faces as dust choked the air and for a while the fight was put on hold as no one could see two feet in front of their own faces.

"Mugen! Jin! Let's get out of here!" Fuu's voice shouted through the fog and they both took off in the direction it came from.

By the time the dust had cleared away, they were long gone leaving about a dozen very angry pirates to chase after them as they barreled through the dark, cramped tunnel.

"I hate tunnels. I hate tunnels. If I get out of here alive, I'm never going into another tunnel for as long as I live," Ashi was muttering to herself as they ran.

"You and me both," Jin agreed.

"Don't worry, the ship is right around this corner, just watch your step, because-," his sentence was broken off by the sound of splintering wood and falling rock followed by the quintet free falling through the air into a pool of water below.

Fuu clutched onto Mugen as he kept them afloat and stared up at the ship looming above them. It was smaller than the one they had been imprisoned on but looked to be more heavily armed. Emblazoned on the side were the words "The Imperial" in large, gold letters. Tanken swam over to the hull of the ship and pulled on a rope causing a rope ladder to fall.

"Everyone on board! Quickly!" he demanded.

Mugen, Tanken and Ashi quickly set to work preparing the ship to sail. When Fuu looked around, she saw that the cove they were in had a narrow opening hidden from the outside by a curtain of foliage. It seemed that the ship was barely small enough to fit through the opening, which explained why the pirates didn't just keep their bigger, more powerful ship here. As she looked at the ship itself, it seemed to have been built more for speed than power, though what firepower it did have helped give it an advantage against much larger ships. Long range cannons would be able to damage the enemy ship from a distance as the smaller ship skirted around out of the range of fire for most, normal cannons.

Fuu's thoughts were interrupted by the pirates invading the ship with fierce grins and sharp swords. Jin immediately launched into a volley of attacks taking out three of the pirates in a single swipe of his katana. Fuu had just enough time to see Tanken and Ashi draw their own weapons and exchange words with Dreadlock Man before none other than Giggles sporting a nasty burn on his scalp scooped her up and dragged her below deck.

"Fuu!" Mugen shouted angrily.

"Go after her! We can handle this!" Jin told him as he dodged more attacks.

With a low growl in his throat, Mugen complied and ran after the woman he loved and her would-be kidnapper.

**Part 22**

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Soon, soon, my Backward Beauty," the man giggled.

"Hey! Just so you know, the artists made my tits way bigger in that ukiyo-e painting!" she called out trying to lash out and grab something to hold onto.

"Lies, lies, lies. You're my Beauty. My Backwards Beauty. I'll take you with me. Take you with me," he muttered hysterically.

Terror filled Fuu. She had never encountered someone like this before. Someone so beyond reason and disconnected with reality. The only other person that came to her mind was Denkibou, the crazy man Mugen fought on his way to rescue her that day. Who had worn steel claws that left those awful scars on his hand. But she only knew him from the story of Mugen's fight with him on the boat ride from Nagasaki. This was uncharted territory for her.

"Let her go, asshole!" came Mugen's angry shout somewhere behind Giggles and Fuu.

"No! No! No! Go away, smelly man! You don't deserve the Backwards Beauty! She's mine! Mine!" Giggles ranted in panic as he saw Mugen charging towards them.

"Keep your disgusting hands off of her," Mugen growled as he swung his sword severing one of the man's hands from his arm and causing him to drop Fuu.

The man howled and writhed in pain as he tried in vain to make his severed hand go back into place on his arm. Fuu backed into the wall moving as far away as possible from the crazy man. Then she spotted the large hole Mugen had cut in her kimono.

"Mugen! You cut my kimono!" she shouted angrily.

"Tch. You get kidnapped and nearly raped by a psychopath and your first worry is a little hole in your skirt? You need to work out your priorities, woman," Mugen laughed. "Now then… _you." _He pointed the tip of his sword at the man's throat causing a drop of blood to well up as it pressed into the flesh. "First, you're going to apologize to Fuu for trying to hurt her. Then you're going to apologize to _me _for trying to take my woman-."

"_Your_ woman?" Fuu quipped.

"_Then," _he continued ignoring Fuu's interjection, "you're going to die, slowly, horribly, and painfully. Sound good?"

"Beauty. My Beauty. I have to have my Beauty," the man mumbled still trying to put his hand back on his wrist.

"On second thought," Mugen said with a dark look on his face, "just die, already."

Two swipes and a hard stab to the chest later, Giggles had stopped mumbling and was now staring off into space with dead eyes. His precious ukiyo-e print of Fuu was dangling from his pocket, blood now staining her face and the sunflowers behind her form.

"C'mon, we better get back and help the others," Mugen said quietly pulling Fuu to her feet.

"Yeah," she muttered before looking down at the man with a mixture of pity and disgust rolling in her stomach. As one final act of retaliation against the man, she stomped hard on his groin before turning and clutching onto Mugen's arm as he led her through the ship and back onto the deck. Mugen silently promised himself to never make her angry enough to do that to him. Even dead, that stomp looked like it seriously hurt with the thick soles of her solid wood geta.


	14. Chapter 14

**Part 23**

They returned in time to see Tanken and Ashi still taking on Dreadlock Man and Jin being surrounded by the remaining seven or eight pirates. Mugen was never good at counting but by the looks of things, Jin was seriously outnumbered but by no means outmatched. He scowled at the prospect of being left out of all the fun so he pushed Fuu into a little nook under the stairs leading up to the wheel.

"Stay here out of trouble," he told her and then added, "please."

"But, I want to help somehow," she pouted.

"You can help by not getting hurt and making me worry," he whispered to her before kissing her so deeply it short circuited her brain which gave him enough time to run off to join the fight before she could protest more.

"Is Fuu safe?" Jin asked when Mugen straightened from his signature move, spinning on his back and clocking any bastard stupid enough to stand in the way of his feet.

"As safe as she'll ever be," he replied cutting down one of the men still reeling from Mugen's spin.

"Ashi was right, you know," Jin said dodging and parrying swords left and right.

"Oh?"

"You two make a very lovely couple," he smirked.

"Bastard. Don't make me regret not killing you, already."

Jin chuckled and cut through two more men.

Behind them, Ashi and Tanken had their hands full trying to get through Dreadlock Man's defenses in order to land a blow. For the umpteenth time, he blocked Ashi's dao and Tanken's curved dagger. Gritting his teeth, Tanken gripped the jade hilt carved into the visage of an eagle and struck only to have Dreadlock Man knock him in the head with the hilt of the oversized hatchet he was fighting with.

"Tanken!" Ashi shouted angrily.

"Oh ho," Dreadlock Man laughed. "Looks like your boyfriend is done for."

"Let's even the odds, shall we?" Mugen said coming out of nowhere and cutting his sword across the larger man's back.

Dreadlock Man cried out and turned to knock Mugen overboard with a heavy blow from the hatchet. Despite blocking the blow, he was still able to open the wound inflicted upon Mugen by Kohza. As he fell overboard, Mugen cursed the woman's name beyond the grave.

"Don't forget," Ashi's voice said causing Dreadlock Man to turn. "I'm still not done with you."

She crouched low on the deck building up power in her legs and bringing the blades of her swords together. With a kick that cracked the boards of the deck, she launched herself at him as if she had been shot out of a cannon and impaled him on the now single blade of her dao. Together, they both tumbled over the railing and into the sea below.

Unbeknownst to them as they were fighting, the island had all but collapsed under the strain of the explosions knocking out the tunnels below the island. The churning water had caused the ship to sail right through the opening of the cove with only a hair to spare on the port side. Now they were out in the middle of the ocean about three miles off shore thanks to the power of the churning water. So when Mugen, Ashi and Dreadlock Man fell overboard, they did so in the middle of the cold, shark infested sea. Ashi pulled her sword free from Dreadlock Man and watched him sink before looking around for Mugen in the gloom. There, about a dozen yards away, he floated verging on the edge of consciousness.

The world was slipping away. Shifting. Mugen was familiar with this. How many times had it happened before? Maybe this time he would finally go with them. The _Pantu. _The Crow Men. That would save Fuu. Fuu…. No. He couldn't leave her. Not when he just-.

A hand gripped his arm and tugged. It pulled him closer and closer to the light dancing on the surface of the ocean. Had the sun risen or was the ocean on fire? Either way, it looked beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the sight of Fuu fast asleep next to him in the shack. As her voice crying out his name in the throes of passion. When his head broke the surface he gasped and took in great lung-fulls of air.

He was alive. Every part of him felt as if it had been trampled by a heard of wild horses but that only proved that he was still alive. This time he never even got to see the _Pantu. _Then he became aware of someone talking. It was Ashi.

"…. I swear to the gods, Mugen, if you die, I'll summon you back from the dead just to kick you back into the afterlife. That fine ass of yours will bounce across the Sanzu River, you won't even need to board the boat. You didn't even buy me a new comb, yet, and there's no way in hell I'll let you leave Fuu this way."

After what seemed like an eternity listening to her talk, Mugen felt sand scrape his back. They had made it. He coughed a few times and turned his head to watch The Imperial swing around to pick them up. Then he looked in the opposite direction and realized they had landed on the still-intact shore of Miyako.

"Ashi…. If you shut the fuck up, right now…. I'll buy you a hundred new combs…," he panted.

She looked at him with a mixture of relief and surprise and nodded. "Deal."

**Part 24**

They took their time sailing back to Japan so as not to get caught by any authorities sailing offshore. It was night by the time they docked and unloaded the ship of its resources into a house Tanken had set aside where he usually lived in when he wasn't leading the band of pirates on raids. Now he and Ashi were going to live there full time living off of the "retirement fund" he had stashed away. Even with the hefty chunk they gave to Mugen, Jin and Fuu, there was still enough left for them to open fifty stores like the one Ashi had owned before the journey.

"Where will you guys go?" Tanken asked as they stood on the beach with the sun ready to rise over the water.

"North," Fuu replied immediately.

"What?! Says who?!" Mugen inquired angrily.

"Says me," she countered.

"Who died and put you in charge?" he demanded.

"When you were out cold, we came to the conclusion that north would be a good gamble," Jin answered.

Mugen crossed his arms across his chest and muttered angrily under his breath about being left out of all the decision making.

"Thank you, Ashi, for everything you've done for us," Fuu said changing the subject.

Ashi smiled widely and turned pink. "Bah! It was nothing."

"I just wish there was something we could do to repay you," Fuu mused sadly.

"Actually, there is…," she said with a serious tone in her voice. She placed a hand on each Mugen and Fuu's shoulders and looked them dead in the eye. "Have lots and lots of super adorable children together." Heat rose in Fuu's face and Mugen felt a vein pulse in his temple. Then she turned and looked at Jin. "Jin… I'm putting you in charge of it all."

"No, please," the ronin begged with red coloring his face. "Leave me out of this."

"I'm serious, though!" she shouted throwing her hands into the air. It seemed that her near-death experience had cured her issues in that department. "If all my work goes for naught, I'll be depressed and angry and I don't think I could handle it! Plus! It'll give mine and Tanken's babies guaranteed friends and possibly even future husbands/wives!"

"What…? Uh…. Kids…?" Tanken stammered.

"Yeah!" She rounded on him with her hands on her hips. "Did you really think I'd let the opportunity for super awesome, super adorable grandchildren pass by?" she demanded.

"I'm confused…," Tanken confessed.

"Children," Fuu mused quietly.

"Why am I suddenly in charge of their sex life?" Jin asked.

"It's perfect," Ashi concluded. "The perfect family."

"You're…," Mugen growled unsheathing his sword. "_Dead!"_

He charged after her down the beach. As they ran in circles scaring men, women, children and even a few birds, Fuu stared into the rising sun with her face turning redder and redder.

"Children… with Mugen…."

**(〜￣ー￣****)〜 ****-THE END-〜****(￣▽￣〜****)**


	15. NOTES

**Notes**

**Part 1- ** Zōri- wiki/Z%C5%8Dri basically flippy floppies

**Part 2- **Basically, the way I see Ashi, she's the lovechild of Mugen and Jin's fighting styles since she uses unorthodox techniques but at the same time she's practiced and polished these techniques.

According to Google Translate, "ashi" means legs or feet which I found fitting seeing as it's her primary weapon. But for all I know, it could really mean "toe jam" or some shit. Oh well, long hair, don't care. :D

Even though Mugen learned how to read in episode eighteen, War of the Words, I like to think he writes his name using the ∞symbol like he did on the roof of the castle/tower/place/thingie

**Part 4- **I really like this analogy of her being an angel of death stuck doing menial chores. Just putting that out there.

**Part 6- **Thanks to episode twenty-three, Baseball Blues, I judge SamCham to be set somewhere in the 1800s after the US was formed. It's just my own personal headcanon.

**Part 7- **Ashi is also the answer to my own personal question, "What would happen if a shipper/fangirl was part of a story?" So she totally ships Fuugen hardcore 4lyf yo.

**Part 8- **My own answer to why Mugen sleeps around but never tried anything with Fuu in the series.

Even though it's totally wrong, I really, really, really wanted them to kiss and thus they do but she ends up turning into the voice of reason to finally open Mugen's eyes to Fuu because someone had to.

**Part 9- **Sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex

**Part 10- **Further fleshing out Ashi's story because I didn't want to reveal everything in a single part

**Part 11- **More sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex

**Part 12- **Ashi is trying to put the kiss between her and Mugen behind them.

Dante's Inferno- wiki/Inferno_%28Dante%29

Since Tanken sailed the ship from the US, the ship is styled more in the US/European style

**Part 13- **I really hate Kohza. Not as much as Yatsuha who I personally refer to as Ninja Skank for trying to destroy my Fuugen hopes and dreams.

**Part 14- **Tanken means "dagger," btw. Again, this is from Google Translate so for all I know it could really mean "little penis."

**Part 15- **I didn't feel like thinking of an appropriate name for Dreadlock Man

Everyone hates Kohza as much as me in my SamCham world. :3

**Part 16- **Giggles got the same treatment as DM

**Part 17- **Even I don't think that boyfriend/girlfriend sounds right when referring to Fuugen ;-; It's still totally perf and fuck the haters, though.

Tyger Tyger by William Blake- . /~ It's personally one of my favorite poems and I think it kind of can refer to Ashi seeing as there's another poem called The Lamb- wiki/The_Lamb also by William Blake which would refer to Fuu in my world/head.

**Part 18- **Jin plays dirty when he's sans katana :D

**Part 19- **FUU'S TIME TO SHINE \\^0^/

**Part 22- **I was quite looking forward to this part, personally.

**Part 23- **Pantu- I couldn't really find much about them except that their visage is still used in festivals, I do believe, and that they're highly feared/respected.

Sanzu River- wiki/Sanzu_River similar to the River Styx of Greek Mythology

**Part 24- **Nothing like a near death experience to bring out the shipper in you. :


End file.
